by Rebel Hart
“Hey guys,” I said, sitting down next to Sicily on the couch. “It’s good to see you.”
“I put your bag up in your room,” Nathan said. “Sicily said you’ve already had a long day, so we don’t have to do too much today, I was just hoping we could talk about what’s next.”
Right down to business—that was Nathan for you. “Yeah, that’s fine with me.”
“Sicily, how are the phones going?” Nathan asked.
Sicily let out an exhausted sigh. “It’s goin’, that’s about all I can say. The unknown number that called you and the one that called Cherri definitely came from the same phone, but it was meant to be a burner. Now, Deon ain’t some criminal mastermind despite the persona he puts on, so he didn’t have a traditional, untraceable phone. From what I can gather, he was using an app to do it, but the app still scrambled the signal enough that I’m struggling to pinpoint where it came from or where it might be now. It gives me a massive list of possible pinged locations and I have to research them all individually and check them against places Deon could have been most likely. It’s time consuming, but I ain’t givin’ up, I just need more time.”
Nathan nodded. “Okay. Thank you for doing so much work on it. Take all the time you need.”
“You say that,” Nikita cut in, “but that’s our only lead.”
“Not the only one,” Kyle replied. “We do have one other option. Brayden.”
“We haven’t been able to contact him,” Nathan replied.
“You haven’t,” Kyle said, and there was a hint of arrogance in his voice. “He called me yesterday.” I’d seen glimpses of it, but there was a new bond between Kyle and Brayden that I neither expected nor understood. Hopefully being around would give me a little more insight.
“Do you think you could get him to talk to us?” I asked. “I’d really love to talk to him.”
Kyle nodded at me, and it was then that I noticed how exhausted he seemed. “It’ll take some doing, but I can get it done.”
“Then while Sicily works on the phones, we’ll go talk to Brayden,” Nathan said.
“Not too many people,” Kyle said. “I don’t want to spook him.”
“Just the three of us then,” I said. “You, me, and Nathan.”
Kyle nodded. “Yeah. I think that’s the safest bet.”
“Tomorrow, then?” Nathan asked.
Kyle and I locked eyes in silent agreement, and said the same thing in unison. “Tomorrow.”
3
Deon
It felt weird not having my heart pounding out of control. For months, I’d constantly been on the run, constantly dodging the police, at the same time ducking the men my father had hunting me. I was trying to figure out exactly where my father was, all while being at large in the wake of violating my parole. Being stressed had become my new permanent state of mind.
Thanks to Venom, that was about to come to a stop, at least for a little bit. I stared out the window of my taxi at the large, three-story, green and white bungalow that he’d described to me. He wasn’t able to give me much when I took the risk to go and visit him in prison, but he was able to potentially give me the most important thing—somewhere to stay with someone I could trust.
“You good, sir?” the cab driver asked.
I jumped a little bit, but turned and nodded at her. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.”
I leaned over the seat and handed the driver the $500 that one of the prison guards had supplied me on Venom’s behalf to pay the taxi with. A nearly two-hour drive from upstate Maine to the Japanese-inspired city of Ushuru near Maine’s border was probably a little outside of the driver’s purview, but whatever the guard who Venom had help me told him was enough to develop enough confidence or fear that the trip would be worth it. $500 for a single ride was probably a good trade off for the fares he lost shoveling me halfway across the state.
I opened the door, offered a final, “Bye,” to the driver and then climbed out. Venom must have used intimidation to get me my ride, because the door had just barely met the frame before the driver was screeching away.
Whatever. That driver having a little pee in his pants was the last thing I needed to be worried about. Unkempt was an understated description for my appearance, but I did the best I could to comb my hair back with my fingers and smooth down my beard, though it was a far cry from my typical short goatee and much closer to a lumberjack goatee now. A shower would be needed for sure, and I’d have to start a new collection of clothes, but for now the mission was to just knock on the door.
With a deep breath, I walked up the sidewalk and up to the large white door. It had a giant “beware of dog” sign on it, but there were far scarier things in my life, so I knocked. Immediately, a dog’s deep, bass-filled bark emanated from the other side of the door, followed by a woman yelling, “Concrete, hush!” Footsteps got closer and closer to the door until the door finally unlocked and opened. “Hello. You must be Deon.”
The woman standing in the doorway was as beautiful as Venom had told me she would be. She had mocha skin, bright hazel eyes, and long, black braids held up on top of her head in a twisted bun. Even though it was mid-day, and she was dressed in a tank top and sweatpants, she had on a full face of makeup. She was curvaceous, slender and tall—there was no need to guess why Venom snatched her off the market. Behind her, there was a large, charcoal gray pitbull who was sitting, but had his eyes dead set for me.
“Yeah. Venom sent me,” I said.
She smiled. “You’ve had a rough time I hear.” She stood aside. “Come on in. Let’s see if we can’t get you in better shape.” Even the tone of her voice was warm and inviting. It made me miss my mom.
There was something familiar about her that I couldn’t quite pinpoint, but I was so happy to just be in a warm, inviting place again, I didn’t care. “Thank you.” I walked past her, into the house, and the pitbull quickly stepped up to me and started sniffing. I stood perfectly still and let him get a read. “Hello.”
Behind me, the woman laughed. “I’m Felicity, and that’s Concrete. He’s a good boy. As long as you don’t pose a threat to him, he won’t pose a threat to you. He loves ear scratches.”
In response to that, I crouched down a little and reached a hand out to start scratching behind Concrete’s ear. Immediately, his tongue rolled forward out of his mouth and he flashed me an adorable dog smile, his tail wagging back and forth with vigor. “Ah, you’re a good boy,” I said, and he lunged forward a little to lick my face.
Felicity walked past us and down the long hallway that jutted out from her front door. Rooms to the left and right looked like a living room and dining room respectively, and the hallway led down into what appeared to be a kitchen. I stood up and followed her down, Concrete at my heels, into the large, open kitchen with a table of its own. Glass doors led out to the backyard and were a beautiful depiction of the wooded area that was nestled behind. It was a stunning home.
“Go ahead and sit down. Are you allergic to anything?” Felicity asked.
“Penicillin,” I replied.
She chuckled. “I promise not to put any penicillin in your food.”
“I’d appreciate it,” I said, sitting down at one of the kitchen table’s chairs. Concrete continued over to a water bowl against the wall and started to lap up scoops of water. “Thank you so much, by the way. It’s been a long time since I’ve been somewhere comfortable.”
“That’s what Garrett tells me.”
I tilted my head. “Garrett?”
She looked up and furrowed her brow, then unwrinkled her face as the realization hit her. “Sorry, Venom. I know him by his government name, Garrett.”
I offered a small smile. “I never knew that was his real name.”
“Yeah, well you know. He’s got super tough appearances to keep up,” she said with a laugh. “I’m surprised he didn’t tell you, though.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Because, Venom really cares about y
ou. He’d never send someone to see his wife unless he really trusted them,” she replied. “ He talks about you like you’re his actual son. We’ve never had any kids of our own, but I don’t know, every time he would call me and be like, ‘I love this kid,’” she did a deep voice to imitate Venom, “I would think to myself, ‘Sounds to me like I have a son I’ve never met before.’”
It was nice to know that Venom truly cared about me. I never understood why he took me under his wing so suddenly when I was locked up, or why he looked out for me as vigorously as he did, but even when I went to visit him, I was met with an intense desire to help me. He pulled all the strings he had, making sure the guards didn’t violate me even though I was at large, and immediately gave me Felicity’s address, telling me to come see her and stay with her. He was doing what an actual dad would do, and all from behind bars.
Connor Loche could go jump in a ditch for all I cared. I had a dad as far as I was concerned.
“He said it’d be easier to communicate with him if I was here,” I said.
Felicity nodded as she pulled ingredients out of her fridge and started to mix them together. I had no idea what she was making, but it didn’t take long before seasonings and spices filled the air and made my stomach grumble. “Yes. I’m also his lawyer, so it keeps all of our communications privileged.”
“That’s a neat trick,” I responded.
Felicity snickered. “Well, to be fair, I was his lawyer first. He started asking me out, and even though I was strict about not mixing business with pleasure, there was just something about him. I knew he was the man for me. So I broke a few rules.”
Silence filled the kitchen as Felicity worked on a particularly hearty brunch. She combined eggs, bacon and a variety of veggies into a delicious omelet and then made some hashbrowns with cheese and topped it all off with buttered toast. She poured me a glass of orange juice and then brought both the plate and the juice over to me and set them down in front of me. My stomach growled as I stared in awe at the best food I’d seen in close to nine months.
“Wow. Thank you so much,” I said.
“Of course. There’s more where that came from, so if you want another one, just let me know.”
“After this, I’m going to fall asleep immediately,” I said.
She laughed. “I’ve got a room all prepared for you, when you’re ready.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in a sigh of relief. “Good food and a nice place to sleep have been luxuries for me lately.”
Felicity set a hand on my head. “Well, we’re going to change that, aren’t we?”
With that, she walked away and left me to my food. I ended up scarfing it down much quicker than I was planning on. It wasn’t just that I hadn’t had good food in a while, it was the fact that it was absolutely delicious. It was the best food I ever had, and apart from a few pieces of errant bacon that fell for Concrete to lick up, I ate every crumb on the plate.
Felicity happened to walk back through the kitchen at the exact moment I was finishing up, and laughed. “Wow. You weren’t lying.”
“You’re an amazing cook,” I said. “You should do this professionally.”
“That’s what Garrett tells me too. Unfortunately, his reputation follows me, so it’s difficult to get a job at a notable restaurant.”
“Start your own,” I replied. “Open up a diner or food truck or something. With cooking like this, you’d clean house.”
“Being a lawyer pays pretty good. Besides, I love cooking. I’d much prefer it to be a hobby than a job.” She grabbed my plate and empty cup. “Do you want more?”
“I’m okay for now, thank you.”
“Well then, come on, I’ll show you to your bedroom.”
She set my plate and cup on the counter near the sink, then started back down the hallway we walked in from. I stood up and followed her down, with Concrete sticking close. We walked through the doorway that was to the right of the front door, and there was a staircase on the other side of the wall leading up. She led up the stairs and down a subsequent hallway at the top of the stairs to the last door down the hallway to the left.
Setting a hand on the handle, she pointed back down the hallway to a door past the stairs leading down. “My bedroom’s down there. You’ll be in here.”
She opened the door and I looked into a simple, but comfortable looking bedroom. There was a king-size sleigh bed centered in a recess against the back wall in front of large french windows. Matching bedside tables had plants setting on top, and there was a dresser with a vanity against the western wall, right next to another door. A couple of chairs sat perpendicular to one another with a table in the southeastern corner of the room and an area rug sat center in the room. It made me sleepy just to look at.
Felicity pointed over to the door next to the dresser. “That door leads to your bathroom. There’s fresh towels inside. I did buy a small supply of sweatpants, jeans, and plain t-shirts that are in the dresser there. Garrett told me about what size you were, so I made my best guess. Hopefully it fits, but if we have to go at some point and buy more stuff, we can do that no problem tomorrow.”
“This…” My throat was actually knotting up a little at how kind Felicity and Venom were being to me. They really were treating me like I was their son. “Thank you for all of this.”
“Of course.” She stepped back out through the doorway, but Concrete ran further into the room and hopped up on the bed. “Looks like you have a roommate. That okay?”
“Yeah. I think it’ll be comforting having him here,” I said.
“He’s got insane intuition, that one. He might be able to sense that you need a buddy. Just kick him out if he gets on your nerves. Sleep as long as you like. Garrett has a few people he wants to come by and lay eyes on ya just in case, but I told them to come slowly starting tomorrow so that you have some time to recoup. If you need anything, just let me know.”
“I will. Thanks, Felicity,” I replied.
She gave me one final smile, then left, pulling the door closed as she went.
I had no frame of reference for what time it was when I went to sleep other than the fact that the sun was up, which it was not when I woke up. Concrete was no longer in the room, so he must have gotten bored with me and barked or scratched until Felicity let him out. When my eyes finally adjusted to the dark, I could see there was a wrapped sandwich, bag of chips, and a bottle of water sitting on the dresser, and I smiled.
I was supposed to be looking for Connor, but I would enjoy being in a warm, comfortable home while I could.
Felicity had downplayed the number of people Venom wanted to meet me just a bit. Over the course of a few days, about ten different people came to meet me and assure me that, so long as I was at Felicity’s house, Connor Loche wouldn’t be able to touch me. Different rotations of the people stuck around the house at any given time, either watching the house from the outside, or sitting inside with us, enjoying a meal and conversation.
“Thank you for doing this,” I told one of the last ones I saw before going to bed one night.
“No need to thank me,” he said. “Venom’s been good to me. I’d do anything for his kid.”
His kid.
Hopefully I’d be able to look Connor in his eyes one day soon and tell him that someone was doing the job he was supposed to do, leagues better than he had done it.
And then I’d end his life.
4
Cherri
There was a knock on my door followed by it opening and Sicily poking his head in. “Mornin’!”
“Good morning,” I replied. “How’d you sleep?”
Sicily walked in, shutting the door behind him, and found a place to sit cross-legged on the floor despite the number of chairs around the room. “Are you kiddin’ me? This place is like a hotel compared to my place. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family, but a king-size bed all to myself in a sound-proof room is a massive step up from my brother’s hand-me-down full with half the spring
s broken and no screaming kids running around. I’m in heaven.”
“Well good. I’m glad I have you here. I’d feel uncomfortable otherwise.”
“Why is that?” Sicily asked. “You’ve been friends with them much longer than you’ve been friends with me.”
“I think it’s because I’m not the person I was when I was with them. I put on a front, one I started to believe by the end of it, but that wasn’t who I really am. When Deon showed up, I started to remember my old self and then this whole time I’ve been friends with you, it’s been as myself. I mean, I know I lost it for a little bit there, but when we weren’t at school and just hanging out, all of that was the real me. In a weird way, I feel like our friendship is built on something much more solid than my friendship with any of them was built on. Even Avery.”
“Yeah, you’re nuts about Avery though. I can see it,” Sicily replied. “You just gotta show ‘em more of this you, then. That’s all. Avery’s so over the moon that you’re back that she wouldn’t give a rip regardless. Hey, if Sicily can learn to love ya as you are, so can they.”
“Hanging up hacking for psychology?” I joked.
He let out his gruff, raspy chuckle. “Nah, but I’ll tell it like it is to a friend.” He stood up and tapped my leg. “Come on. They’re all downstairs havin’ breakfast. Time to introduce them to the real Cherri.”
With Sicily feeling so confident, I started to feel better myself and stood up off the bed. He led the way back out of the bedroom and down the stairs to where the entire Royal Court, apart from Brayden, was gathered eating from breakfast platters laid family-style in the middle of a kitchen island surrounded by stools that they were sitting on. There were a few remaining stools and Sicily and I walked in and sat down.
“Good morning,” Avery said to me brightly. “How’d you sleep?”
“Not bad,” I replied. “I don’t sleep well in general, but it was really comfortable. I think I’ll sleep better once we’ve found and talked to Brayden.”